How did the snowball effect of remodeling start? Well, it's a funny little story. Before Brian and I got married, I told him I could not live in this house as-is. It's a serious haz-mat issue. I may or may not be exaggerating. So, I asked if I could stain the concrete or redo the dining room floor. This is the same room where there were 8 fish tanks. He said, "Ok." Little did he realize, I had a box cutter in my hand. Before he was able to return from the kitchen, I had the carpet cut along the dining and living room line. This was started almost 2 years ago. The stain didn't end up working out because of that giantic 185 gallon tank. So, I put a vinyl in around it. I can still finish once we move.
Before
After
I also went ahead and pulled out all the old laminate in the small bathrooms and laundry area and put down the same vinyl.
After that, I decided the wall to wall carpet in the bathroom (gag me... ) had to go.
Before
After
And then the blinding floral disaster that was puked all over the walls.
Before
After
Somehow, I managed to convince Brian that the carpet in the rest of the house needed to be replaced.
Before
After
I'm also slowly working on the yards. I've put in a large flower bed in the front. I hope to finish it off with a monkey grass edge this Spring. The backyard needs a lot more help. But, the hot tub, aka another fish tank, was the first thing to go. After that, down came the deck.
Before
After
Our latest project will be the kitchen. It was supposed to be our last project before we sold the house, but when opportunity knocks, you answer!
Before... a nice hot mess.
The plan started with cabinets. Well, of course if you replace the cabinets, you have to replace the counter tops. Well, if you replace the counter tops, you might as well replace the builder-basic back splash. If you replace all of that, you might as well get rid of the floral puke on the walls and paint. Why not just finish the whole thing off and replace all the light fixtures as well, including knocking out the light box (not pictured) and putting in something other than a florescent bulb.
I'm hoping we're done by the time the weather warms up (March/April), because I want to get back to the yard. Cross your fingers for us!
While we're hoping to sell in 4-5 years, I keep having dreams of being in the house until the kid(s) graduate high school. Crap. But, that won't be horrible since when they are gone, we could go buy a house out right. We'll just have to wait and see what happens....
3 comments:
Even if all y'all did was replace the wallpaper it would be a HUGE improvement.
We did some work on our house, but thankfully were able to get it done before we moved in. I admire your determination. :) In the end, though, as strange as it sounds, I think I would look for that again rather than having everything move-in ready. Now we have our personal tastes in all of the little touches rather than someone else's tastes that were "good enough". I love it that way.
I'm trying to do things with a touch of my taste, but to where I think most people will like it.
Hope you are doing well! Miss ya!!
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